MARIETTA, Ohio — Christopher Newport scored an unearned run in the bottom of the tenth inning to beat Mount Aloysius, 4-3, in the first round of the NCAA Regional Tournament Friday (May 20) afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Brayden Hodges reached on a two-out double for the Captains and came around to score the winning running when Drew Caroline's infield single to the second baseman was thrown away at first.
"This game looked like the first game of a regional for a group that only has two players that's been to a regional, Christopher Newport head coach John Harvell. "Like I told them at the beginning, once you get to this point it doesn't matter what your record is."
Christopher Newport trailed 3-0 in the first inning and gradually chipped away at the Mount Aloysius lead. The Captains plated two runs in the fourth and tied the game with one in the sixth.
"You need to set the tone early. Thats what they did and we had to fight back," Harvell said. "Give (Dylan) Weber credit for settling down. We had opportunities early and couldn't get the job done fortunately we got the break when we needed it."
The Mounties jumped on CNU starter, Dylan Weber, in the first inning. Tyler Quade got the rally started with a one-out single. Base hits from Jeremy Iellimo and Aiden Bell. Quade scored on Bell's single up the middle.
Joshua Brown was hit by a Weber pitch to load the bases. Troy Emert lifted a fly ball to right field deep enough for Iellimo to score and for Bell to move over to third. With runners on the corners, the Mounties executed a perfect double steal allowing Bell to score.
Quade started on the mound for Mount Aloysius and cruised through the early innings. Christopher Newport finally got to him in the fourth inning. The Captains loaded the bases with a double, walk and an infield single. Caroline worked a free pass driving in Alec Reilly. Jonathan Fisher picked up an RBI with a ground out.
Caroline would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. Jay Cassady singled and moved into scoring position on a single from Hodges brining Caroline to the plate.
Both starting pitchers were lifted in the eighth inning with the scored tied, 3-3. Quade worked seven innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. Weber was charged with three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in seven innings.
Daniel Elliott (4-0) took over for CNU and pitched three shutout innings for the win. He allowed just two base runners, one on a walk and he hit the other with a pitch. Elliott struck out a pair of Mounties.
Chris Hasse (3-2) took the loss. He gave up one unearned run on three hits in 2.2 innings on the mound. He walked one and struck out five.
Quade, Iellimo and Bell had two hits apiece for Mount Aloysius. Hodges led the Captains with three hits, including a double, in five at bats. Reilly was 2-for-5 with a double, while Connor Clark had a pair of singles.
Christopher Newport advances into the winner's bracket and will play Marietta Saturday (May 21) at 2:30 p.m. Mount Aloysius will face Kalamazoo at 11:00 a.m. in the loser's bracket.